Kralendijk – On May 1^st, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) staff and volunteer Beachkeepers conducted their first sea turtle nesting patrols of the 2020 nesting season on Klein Bonaire, Te Amo & Donkey Beach and in the south of Bonaire. Patrols on Playa Chikitu, a green turtle nesting site, will start in June.

The first nesting patrol on Klein Bonaire turned out to be a great start to the new season: STCB staff and volunteers recorded the first nest on Friday May 1^st, laid by a loggerhead approximately two nights before. “When a nest has just been laid, the eggs are almost translucent. They soon start to calcify and after several days the eggs turn white. So, based on the degree of calcification of the eggs, we believe this first nest was laid just after King’s Day”, Gielmon ‘Funchi’ Egbreghts (STCB’s Field Specialist) said. STCB expects the first nesting activities on Te Amo, Donkey Beach and on the southern pocket beaches will follow soon.

So far, 32 nests – out of the approximately 100 nests that will be laid in the coming months – have been adopted as part of STCB’s Adopt-A-Nest program. STCB is very grateful for the continuous support of its funders & donors, especially in a time like this. “Thanks to the generosity of our nest adopters, we can continue to patrol Bonaire’s nesting beaches, train new staff and volunteers, collect data on Bonaire’s nesting population and research ways in which we can increase the hatching success of (critically) endangered sea turtle species around our island.”, Kaj Schut (STCB’s Manager).

Thank you to those for adopting one or more nests in 2020: Antoine Zeegers, Best Cellars Bonaire, Blue Jay Holding Bonaire, Administratiekantoor Brandaris, Brave Water Foundation, BUTS Technical Consultancy, Cargill Salt Bonaire, Casa Presioso, Dinska Dohmen, Dive Friends Bonaire, dNM Interim, Doris & Martin Elle, Findling Nest, Hamlet Oasis Resort, Harbour Village Beach Club, Harbourtown Real Estate, Illuseum Berlin, International Tax Advisors, Jim & Judy Kewley, Joan & Alan Zale, Labor Omnia Vincit, Leontine Bukman, QVillas, RE/MAX Paradise Homes, Sand Dollar, Sunbelt Realty, Sundhevy & Stijn, The Laughing Seahorse, Villa Kiki, VIP Diving Bonaire.